Wheel and method of



Jan. 8, 1924. 1,480,034

J. H. WAGENHORST WHEEL AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Nov. 15, 19182 Sheets-Sheet 1 II/Il Jan. 8 1924. 1,480,034

J. H. WAGENH ORST WHEEL AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME 2 Sheets-5heet 2Filed Nov. 15, 1918 ww fizz/0r 757-5 gym M Patented Jan. 8, 1924.

JAMES H. WAGENHORST, OF AKRON, OHIO.

WHEEL AND METHOD O-F.MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed November 15, 1918. Serial No. 262,649.

To all whom it ma concern:

Be it known thatl, JAMES HMWAGEN- nonsr, a citizen of the United States,residing at Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Wheels and Methods ofMaking the Same, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates generally to wheels and more particularly to awheel composed of wooden spokes and a metallic felly. This inventionalso relates to the method of makingrsuch wheels.

he object of the invention is to provide a wheel composed of wooden sokes and a metallic felly, the inner ends 0 the spokes being tapered inthe usual manner and the continuous metallic felly ap lied laterally tothe outer ends of such spo res, thewheel body as a whole being'subjectedto radial compression in the positionm'g of the felly upon thespokesthereby providing a thor oughly rigid wheel body in which all ofthe parts are thoroughly-interlocked.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel manner of cuttingthe spokes from billets whereby economy of wood is so obtained.

Another object of the invention is to provide for the quick andeiiicient fastening of the felly to the spoke ends after said felly has beenproperly positioned upon said spoke 36 ends.

With these objects in view, and certain others, which will becomeapparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists in thenovel features of construction and ar- (0 rangement hereinafter .fulldescribed and pointed out in the appende claims, and the invention alsoconsists in the novel method of arrangin" and assembling the severalparts whereby a completed'wheel is pro- 4| vided. In the drawingsforming a part of this specification Fig. 1 is a side view of a wheelconstructed in accordance with my in-' vcntion; Fig. 2 is a detailsectional view of a spoke end cap and folly; Fig. 3 is a similar sovicwshowing one manner of locking the folly upon its spoke end; F" 4 and 5are similar views showing modi cations of such fastening means; Figs. 6and 7 show modic med or slopm fied forms of caps; Fig. 8 is a detailsectional erspective view of the modified cap shown in Fig. 7; and Fig.9 is a plan view illustrating the method of cutting spokes from a.wooden billet.

In carrying out my invention I employ any desired number of woodenspokes A, the ends of which are tapered, as shown at B. so that when allof the spokes are assembled a central nave portion will be provided,

the tapered sides 0 the several spokes contacting with each other. I

In practice I prefer to out two spokes from one billet of wood as mostclearly shown in Fig. 9 and in this manner economize considerably in theuse of wood.

The felly C is a continuous metallic rin preferably rolled from sheetmetal, an

flanged or channeled; that is, the felly. ;i s made up of a base portionG andfinneiyi flange or side C ,and an'outer fiangeor side C and theouter ends of these fianges' or sides can be bent inwardly, or inwardland outwardly, or in any manner preferre in order to provide the properseats or hearing surfaces for a demountable tire carryin rim D which isto be applied to and fastens upon this metallic fel The base or bottomsloping or inclined from the outer-edge as shown; and in practiceI-fprefer to arran e upon the outer end of each spoke a metallic cap E,the outer end of which is beveled, sloped or inclined upon the sameangle and in the same direction as the base or bottom of the folly.

The method of making the wheel is as follows: The spokes A are assembledwith their inner tapered ends contacting and are fastened togethertemporarily in any suitable manner.

wardly. The metallic folly C is then laced u :1 these capped spoke endswith t e in base 0' thereof contacting with the inchn or sloping ends ofthe caps and said felly is then forced laterally with reference to saidspoke ends until it has been brought into'proper central ition, and itwill of course be understood t at the folly C is forced laterally as awhole, so that the entire center of the wheel body will be simull Q (l''of the felly ismade taneously subjected to a uniform radialcompression, thereby bringing all of the spokes into locked relationwitheach other and with the continuous inextensible metallic felly.

If desired, the felly could be held rigid, and the spokes with capstherepn forced into the said metallic felly, the operation beingidentically the same in both instances, that is,'so lon gas there is arelative movement of the capped wooden spokes and the metallic fellylaterallywith reference to each other whereb the inclined faces of thecap ends and felly base is obtained, it is immaterial whether the fellyis forced upon the spokes, or the spokes forced into the felly.

Various methods may be employed for locking or fastening the felly inits fixed position after it-has been placed upon the ca ped spokes. Ifdesired itcould be spot we ded, (Fig. 4). Another method would be to pma short screwradially through the felly cap end and into. the spoke asshown in Fig. 2. Another method would be to rov'ide a small aperture Ein the end of t e cap and drive a portion of the rim into said apertureas most clearly shown at E in F i 5. In practice, however, it is pre-'ferre to nab ashort tongue'F from the base of thefe ly and provide theca with an opening G or indentation G an after the folly has beenroperly positioned, press the tongue inward y into the opening orrecess, the tongue extending outwardly and consequently locking thefelly against outward movement and the inclination of the cap end andfelly base would prevent itsfdislocation inwardly. This method isillustrated in Fig, 3. I

i It will be noted, that inasmuch as a majority offthe lateral strainsare from the outside inwardly such strains would tend alwa s to keep thefelly firm' upon the spoke end? and consequently it is only necessary totake care of those strains or shocks which act from the inner sideoutwardly.

A wheel constructed in this manner and according to this method will bethoroughly rigid throughout, and yet if one or more spokes should becomedamaged they can be quickly and easily removed and a new one inserted,it being understood that after a spoke and its cap are removed, thelocking tongue in the base of the felly could be ressed backso as toprovide a smooth surace in order that the cap end and felly base couldbe brought again lnto roper osition and then thetongue could e punc edin I wardly again. 7

The spoke ends can be made sloping to fit into the metalliccaps or ifdesired the spoke ends can be out perfectly square as shown in'Fig. 7,and the central portion H ofthe cap can be de raged to provide a fiathear ing surfaceorthe spoke end to contact therewith, the edge portionsH of the cap being inclined or sloping so as to provide the properwedging engagement between theca and the base or bottom of the folly. Itwi I be understood that the sides of the felly can be turned outwardlyas shown in Figs. 1 to 5 or the inner side or flange can be turnedoutwardly and outer flange or side turned inwardly as shown in Fig. 6.

It will thus be seen that I provide a wheel comprising a plurality ofwooden spokes and a continuous inextensible metallic felly which is aplied laterally to the spoke ends, and in suc application not onlybecomes firnily locked in contact with said spoke ends but also exerts auniform and simultaneous radial compression upon the spokes so as toprovide the proper interlocked wheel body.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. As a new articleof manufacture a wheel comprising a plurality of wooden spokes, metalliccaps u on the outer ends of said spokes, an en ess wheel miemberarranged upon the capped end of said spokes, a portion of said wheelmember being depressible into locked engagement with the end of saidcaps.

2. As a new article of manufacture a wheel comprising a plurality ofwooden spokes metallic caps u on the outer ends of said spokes, and a weel member forced upon the ends of said caps, the base of said w ing soshaped as to engage each other in permanent relation when said wheelmember is forced upon the ca ends.

3. As a new artice of manufacture, a

wheel comprising a plurality of spokes, of metallic caps upon the outerends of said spokes and an endless wheel member forced upon the ends ofsaid caps, one of said parts being radially upset to preventdisplacement.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a

.wheel comprising a plurality of wooden spokes having their inner endsin contact, metallic caps upon the outer ends of said spokes, theends'of'said caps being inclined,

eel member and the ends of the caps bev and an endless metallic fellyhaving an inclined base adapted to be laterally wedged upon the inclinedsurfaces of the spoke caps the base of said felly having an integraltongue adapted to be pressed into engagement with the cap to preventdisplacement of the felly.

6. As a. new article of manufactiire a. whereby the spokes are placedunder radial wheel comprising a tlplumlity of wo on compression and thefol y tensioned as said spokes arranged with air inner ends in confellyis laterally ggeeitioned upon the s okos. tact, metallic caps upon theends of said In testimony w roof, I hereunto'a my 5 sflfiokes, and anendless metallic felly latersignature.

wed upon the spokes, the spoke caps an folly aving inclined contactingsurfaces JAMES H. WAGENHORST.

